Archive for the ‘Enrichment’ Category

Sep
14

Chimp Enrichment: Blankets,Termite Mounds and Painting! Oh My!!!

Posted by in Chimpanzees,Enrichment,Events

If you have visited the chimps in the African Forest at the Houston Zoo, chances are you’ve seen them toting around blankets or resting with them in the hammocks.  “Why in the world would a chimpanzee have a blanket?” you may be wondering.  Well, because they like them, that’s why!  Our chimps grew up having blankets to sleep with and to play with, and this affinity has carried over into adulthood.  Blankets are comfy, they smell nice (the keepers launder them regularly), they keep you warm in winter and sometimes, they have treats hidden inside them.  Who doesn’t enjoy a blankie?

Annie (on the ground) and Sally (in the hammock) enjoy their blankets

Sometimes, just to make it interesting, the keepers hide food in a folded blanket, or spread food out on it for a picnic.  A dash of perfume or essential oils makes it even more intriguing.

Blankets are just one of the many types of enrichment we use to keep the chimps engaged and to encourage the expression of  natual behaviors.  “What kind of ‘natural’ behavior can a blanket encourage?”, you are asking yourself.  Chimpanzees, as well as other apes, are nest-builders.  Meaning that whenever and wherever they rest, they will build a “nest” for themselves out of whatever materials are at hand.  In the wild this may be leaves, branches, grasses or even entire small tree limbs.  Often these nests are high in trees to avoid predators.  They rarely use the same nest twice and, except for infants, each chimp makes his or her own nest.  Can you think of a better material for making a nest than a blanket?  Me neither.

 “So what other types of enrichment do the chimps get?”, you are now asking.  You certainly are full of questions today!  Well, since this is one of my favorite subjects, I’ll tell you.

One of the most remarkable discoveries in the field of animal behavior was the observation in 1960 that wild chimpanzees make and use tools.  Previously, it was thought that only human beings were capable of this.  There are many ways in which chimps use tools, but one of the most well-known is using grass stems or sticks to “fish” for termites.  (Click this link for more info on termite fishing.)  Our chimps are not used to eating termites, but they do love a sweet snack, so we load our termite mound replica with semi-liquid food that might be sweet one day, or savory the next.  We try to keep it interesting and different each day.  The only way the chimps can reach their treat is to fish for it using whatever they can find, usually bamboo sticks.  This built-in innovative enrichment device never fails to captivate chimpanzees and guests alike.

Above you can see the chimps using the termite mound replica (clockwise from the top: Mac, Lulu, Willie, Riley and Annie). Guests can see, through the window on their side, what the chimps are fishing for inside the mound.

Being intelligent and curious, chimps love to investigate and manipulate objects.  They especially love cardboard and paper that can be torn up and rearranged to their liking. Cardboard boxes can hide food or treats and then be used for nesting when the food is gone.  Big ones like refrigerator boxes make great forts. (I bet you’ve done this, too, haven’t you?) This type of enrichment is usually reserved for the off-exhibit holding area as it can create quite a mess.

Not all enrichment has to encourage “wild” behaviors; Sometimes it is just something the animal finds interesting and fun. For great apes especially, one such behavior is painting.  Keepers generally hold the canvas with paint on it and hand the animal a paintbrush. Participation in this activity is completely voluntary, but we find the chimps rarely turn down the opportunity to smear the paint around on the canvas… and then eat some of it.  Don’t worry, it’s all non-toxic.  And apparently delicious, though I have not tried it myself.

Charlie working on his masterpiece. And having a paint snack. Bonus!

 For chimps, though, the ultimate enrichment is other chimps.  By nature chimpanzees are gregarious and have incredibly complex social lives.  Daily, they must negotiate their relationships with each other: cementing friendships and alliances, squabbling over food or toys, resolving conflicts and angling for a higher position on the social ladder.  Our group of five males and five females are incredibly interesting to watch and learn about.  They may just be a great source of enrichment for you!

Written by Judy McAuliffe
All photos by Ron Santos

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.  Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

Find your favorite animals and see what they’re wishing for at Amazon.com. Then just sit back, shop, click and send your animal of choice a wonderful gift to enrich their life!  They really do appreciate it and so does the Houston Zoo!

 

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Sep
12

Animal Enrichment: Fruit Bats at Natural Encounters

Posted by in Enrichment,Events,Natural Encounters

The Houston Zoo keepers enrich all the animals, including bats!  Enrichment allows our animals to practice their natural, “wild” behaviors, such as foraging, exploring and even trying a new food.  This provides animals with the exciting and varied lives they would have  in the wild, but in a safe environment.  Keepers at the Zoo provide enrichment every day, but on September 24th we are bringing enrichment into the spotlight!

One of those spotlights will be the Straw-colored Fruit Bat colony located in the Carruth Natural Encounters Building.

Many people take one look at the bats and are frightened.  On Enrichment Day guests will be able to see these amazing and intelligent animals interacting with a variety of new enrichment in their habitat.  Be sure to stop by the Natural Encounters building at 10:40 am to see the bats explore their enrichment!  A bat keeper will be there to answer questions and help everyone understand why bats are so important.

Written by Kamryn Suttinger

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.  Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

Find your favorite animals and see what they’re wishing for at Amazon.com. Then just sit back, shop, click and send your animal of choice a wonderful gift to enrich their life!  They really do appreciate it and so does the Houston Zoo!

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Sep
07

Animal Enrichment: Stump Full of Treats

Posted by in Children's Zoo,Enrichment,Events

At the Houston Zoo there is a wide variety of animals.  The McGovern Children’s Zoo houses many different species, so the keepers are kept on their toes striving to provide interesting and varied enrichment for all their animals.  Here is an example of one way their enrich the lives of the raccoons that live  at the Children’s Zoo.

For the clever raccoon, getting your food presented to you in a bowl everyday can be a bit mundane. In the wild they would be climbing trees, digging, and wading in the water to get their next meal. They are what I like to call “opportunivores” – taking advantage of food sources wherever they can find them. To create a little variety and to stimulate natural foraging behaviors, we recently took a small stump and drilled raccoon hand sized holes along the top and sides and then dropped their daily diet into the holes. When we gave the girls the stump they dove right in, enthusiastically digging out their favorite tidbits of food.  Even after all of the food has been found, they will still search and scratch at the holes just to be sure they didn’t leave anything behind.

 

What kind of food do we put in the holes you might ask? Raccoons are omnivores – they will eat anything from insects, to plant matter, to the occasional egg snatched from a nest, so we have a wide variety of choices to put in their “puzzle feeder”. It is very rewarding as a keeper to give our animals experiences that mirror their natural wild behaviors.

The next time you come and visit the raccoons, take a peak at their exhibit to see what new ways we enriching our clever masked mammals.

Written by Stephanie Turner

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.  Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

Find your favorite animals and see what they’re wishing for at Amazon.com. Then just sit back, shop, click and send your animal of choice a wonderful gift to enrich their life!  They really do appreciate it and so does the Houston Zoo!

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Aug
31

Animal Enrichment: Who Does the Parrot Want to Call?

Posted by in Birds,Enrichment,Events

As a child, I absolutely hated macaroni art. The act of gluing food parts to a sheet of paper seemed to me designed as some form of punishment, designed to punish me by having small pieces of pasta glued up and down my arms. Many other craft activities seemed to be along a similar thread, a waste of time with no real purpose. Being a zookeeper, I’ve had to re-evaluate my feelings because of a need to enrich a wide variety of animals.

 Animal care staff are fairly crafty people – we have to be. The simple fact of the matter is that a variety of crafts open up doors to creating new ways to interact with our animals and encourage natural responses. Being able to create our own enrichment has a variety of benefits:

 1) Purchasing enrichment pieces for all of our animals is simply not an option. With an animal collection numbering into the thousands, keepers at the Houston Zoo utilize their craftiness to come up with our own unique enrichment ideas for a fraction of the cost of purchased items.

 2) Items to be purchased are not necessarily meant for the wide array of exotic animals that are housed at the Houston Zoo. While there are a variety of objects available to encourage interaction, they are typically designed with more domestic species in mind. Designed objects can be created with a variety of animals in mind.

 3) Utilizing our creativity is a way for keepers to create many more nrichment opportunities than would normally be available. We can decide to change enrichment items to focus on different sensations or different natural behaviors.

　

This is our Pesquet’s Parrot (Psittrichas fulgidus) interacting with a phone book. As a novel item, this enrichment encourages a great deal of natural curiosity and observation. This bird is clearly observing the item from every feasible angle before finally reaching out to explore further using the nerve-laden tongue of a parrot.

 

 Want to help further? We also have a wish list of items that many people throw away in the course of their day; some days, these few small items can make all the difference in the world in helping to create a “new” zoo everyday

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.  Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

Find your favorite animals and see what they’re wishing for at Amazon.com. Then just sit back, shop, click and send your animal of choice a wonderful gift to enrich their life!  They really do appreciate it and so does the Houston Zoo!

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Aug
24

Carnivore Enrichment: Hunting, Pouncing and Chasing!

Posted by in Carnivores,Enrichment,Events

The Zookeepers at the Houston Zoo strive to get natural behaviors from their animals by providing novel enrichment items.  Enrichment helps to improve an animal’s well being by stimulating them mentally and physically in order to encourage natural behaviors.  Each enrichment item is geared to stimulating one of their basic senses: sound, taste, sight, touch and smell.  You can help provide items for your favorite carnivore at Amazon.com.

If we want to encourage a Jaguar to hunt like they would in the wild, we will hide a barrel with meat inside on exhibit.  It’s not room service every day at the zoo!!!  In this example the Jaguar smells the meat but cannot see it.  He would have to use his sense of smell to find the food source and then he has to manipulate the barrel in order to get the meat out.  Manipulating the barrel stimulates the Jaguar physically and mentally, often turning into play as well. 

The Carnivore Department provides a different type of enrichment every day.  To prevent repetition and boredom we are constantly changing our enrichment schedule and trying to come up with fresh ideas.  Some of the most popular enrichment items for Carnivores include novel food items, bones, ice pops, various scents, bedding and boxes. 

Bonita, our Maned Wolf loves it when we give her a box of crickets.  The noise and movement created by the crickets stimulate Bonita’s hunting behaviors and she loves tearing the box apart. 

We recently installed a zip line for our African Wild Dog exhibit.  The zip line gives us a whole new way to present bones, hides and large chunks of meat to the African Wild Dogs.  The dogs have to chase their enrichment item and then pull it off the line.  You can see in the photo below it’s a group effort!  Chasing, tearing, pulling and working for their food are all behaviors the Dogs would exhibit in the wild.

By encouraging natural behaviors through enrichment guests visiting the Houston Zoo can see Jaguars hunting, Maned Wolves pouncing and African Wild Dogs chasing.  Hopefully these kinds of moments at the Zoo will foster an appreciation for the plight of all animals in the wild. 

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.  Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

Find your favorite animals and see what they’re wishing for at Amazon.com. Then just sit back, shop, click and send your animal of choice a wonderful gift to enrich their life!  They really do appreciate it and so does the Houston Zoo!

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Aug
20

MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital Patients Learn About Life on the Wild Side

Posted by in African Forest,Enrichment,Events,Memories

What do wild animals and pediatric cancer patients have in common? Not much – unless the patients are from MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital.

For several years, pediatric patients – with help from MD Anderson Children’s Art Project – have created special works of art for a variety of animals living at the Houston Zoo.

Each year, education specialists from the Houston Zoo have come to the Children’s Cancer Hospital in-hospital school to teach patients about exotic wildlife. They’ve learned what life is like at the zoo and have used that knowledge to create treats and toys to give to the animals.
 
Patients have also taken field trips for an up close, behind-the-scenes tour of the zoo. Over the years, they’ve interacted with giraffes, elephants, many of the reptiles, and smaller animals. They’ve also created paper maché animals that zoo specialists fill with food and set out as prey for the tigers and other animals to devour.

Earlier this year, patients made piñatas for the chimpanzees. After getting acquainted, the zookeeper took three of the decorated piñatas and filled them with figs – the ape equivalent of warm apple pie, explained the zookeeper. Then, the children watched as each piñata was dropped into the exhibit, much to their ¬– and the chimpanzees’ – delight.

As the chimpanzees  poked their heads through and pushed around the piñatas, inches away on the opposite side of a glass wall, the kids watched with pure excitement. It was clearly time away from the difficult realities of a cancer diagnosis.

The chimps weren’t the only inhabitants getting in on the fun.  The patients also presented a piñata to some larger zoo residents – the rhinos. The piñata was placed in the middle of the exhibit. They, too, were curious. One rhino even sent his horn right through the middle of the piñata. 

After the rhinos were satisfied with the treats, the day ended with an opportunity to hand-feed three large giraffes. For many of the children who come to MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital from all over the world, this has been their first experience to see large wildlife up close. When all is said and done, each patient has shared a little love, and has learned a little bit about life on the wild side.

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Aug
18

Primate Enrichment: It’s Never a Dull Moment!

Posted by in Enrichment,Events,Primates

In the Primate section at the Houston Zoo, we have a multitude of different animals to enrich (including some non-primates!)  Creating work and play for our collection is a big part of what we do every day.  Our challenge as keepers and managers is to find, make or build various objects to manipulate and investigate that our monkeys, apes and others will enjoy.   You can find some of items we use at Amazon.com.   From boxes to shredded paper and from pine bark mulch to wood shavings, we are always looking for materials that our animals might like to tear up or forage through.  Our goals are for animals to behave the way they do in nature: working to find food, making a nest, or just plain having fun.  So remember the next time you see Bobby the mandrill reading through that magazine, he’s not just looking for the latest trends, he’s looking to see if his keeper put a special treat in between the pages!   Or like Jambi babirusa below working the barrel to get the very last treat out to enjoy!

 

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.   Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

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Aug
10

Houston Zoo and Amazon.com

Posted by in Enrichment,Events

Do you love to shop?!  The Houston Zoo animals now have a wishlist on Amazon.com!  We all enjoy buying that perfect gift for someone special…..and who’s more special than the animals at the zoo!  I know you’ve often wondered, if I were buying a gift for Jonathan the lion what on earth would he want?  And where would I go to buy it?  What about a baby gift for Aurora the orangutan?  Well today’s your lucky day and you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your air conditioned home, yes shopping in the summer without breaking a sweat!!

All of the animals now have brought their needs and wants to you through Amazon.com, just a click away.  Here’s an example of some of the items you can purchase and enrich the lives of your favorite animal.

The Carnivores are asking for boomer balls, catnip and many other items, you know how cats love to wind themselves up on catnip, then start chasing everything in sight!   Like this Jolly Ball available at Amazon.com, peppermint scented!

Horseman's Pride Jolly Ball

The Primates are asking for a Look Lous feeding mirror….hmmmm is that so Rudy orangutan can make sure there are no crumbs on his face when he finishes his favorite breakfast??  Just a click away!

Looky Lou Feeder 14" X 10" Acrylic w/ 3/4" holes (.125 wall) Mirror on one side: 4 in.

Find your favorite animals and see what they’re wishing for at Amazon.com. Then just sit back, shop, click and send your animal of choice a wonderful gift to enrich their life!  They really do appreciate it and so does the Houston Zoo!

Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo is Saturday, September 24th.  This is a great opportunity to come and join in the fun.  Come out and see all of the animals enjoying special enrichment, hear keeper chats and loads of  fun games for kids of all ages!  Enrichment Day celebrates the meaning and joy of enriching our animals and visitors!

 

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Aug
04

Enrichment Day Returns to the Houston Zoo

Posted by in Enrichment,Events

Enrichment provides animals the stimulation they would have in the wild but in a safe environment. It encourages our animals to exhibit natural behaviors such as foraging, hunting, exploring, and social interactions. This can take many forms, and includes food, toys, scents, sounds, and interaction with keepers.

A jaguar enjoys the water and a bobbing plastic barrel to engage with.

We provide enrichment here at the Houston Zoo every day but it often happens behind the scenes or is hidden from view. But on Enrichment Day, September 24, 2011, you can see it all and even try some out for yourself!

Enrichment Day first began at the Houston Zoo in 2004. We began this to educate the guest about the importance of enrichment to animal welfare. Keeping an animal healthy doesn’t just mean making sure they have food and water — it’s part of a Zookeepers job to provide mental and physical stimulation to the animals they care for on a daily basis.

The best way to provide mental stimulation is to give the animals as many choices as we can. Choosing to play with a ball, choosing not to lie in a hay bed, choosing to hide or choosing to train are all examples of choices Zookeepers can provide to their animals on a daily basis.

Our African Wild Dogs discovering a visitor in their habitat...

Enrichment Day gives Zookeepers the opportunity to give the animals with some really unique enrichment for the guest to see while the Keepers interpret what it’s all about.

If you would like to see the animals being really active, or talk one on one with a Zookeeper, come to the Houston Zoo on September 24th for Enrichment Day. The Houston Zoo will have over 50 specialized scheduled keeper chats on the subject, several outside organizations will be on grounds to talk about their enrichment programs. And there’s more! Our education department will have a game station focused on enrichment for kids and particpate.

Smaug, our komodo dragon, might need to figure out how to get food out of this ball with holes

So enrich yourself  by getting the family together to come to Enrichment Day at the Houston Zoo on September 24th!

Keep an eye out on our website, Facebook, Twitter, and right here on the blog for many fun and interesting posts with great pictures and video to tell you all about this educational, fun-packed day!
Written by Angie Pyle, Senior Keeper Carnivores

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Jun
12

Baby Aurora gets some teeth … and other interesting developments

Posted by in Babies,Enrichment,Primates,Wortham World of Primates,Zoo Births

Aurora with new flashy smile

Orangutan infant “Aurora” is growing fast, and at the early age of 3 months has decided to grow some teeth. These new incisors resemble Chiclets coming out of her gums and are rather ridiculous looking objects, which she proudly shows off regularly.

She has graduated to some solid foods like rice cereal and banana in addition to formula and is practicing with those choppers daily. Of course, while we are doing introductions with her to birth mother Kelly or potential surrogate mom Cheyenne, we share the goodies with the adults.

Beware of these pearly whites!

As we step up face-to-face introductions, we are also increasing the types and amount of enrichment that she receives. She is now being exposed to everything that the adult orangutans receive: paper of all types, browse, substrates, boxes, plastic toys, and even a mirror, which she found quite entertaining.

Aurora with mirror

Look for Aurora to appear sometime soon on the orangutan exhibit as we acclimate her to the viewing area and guests. This announcement will come soon, so stay tuned!

Photos by Nathalie Jolicoeur.

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